Las Vegas Shelters Seek Foster Help as Kitten Season Brings Influx of Hundreds of Thousands of Strays

With warmer temperatures arriving across the Las Vegas Valley, local animal shelters are preparing for the annual kitten season surge, a period that stretches from March through October and strains resources at facilities like The Animal Foundation.

"Kitten season usually lasts March through October, so the warmer months," said Kelsey Pizzi, communications manager at The Animal Foundation. "What happens is it gets warm outside like it is now, and cats start breeding, and then we see those kittens start to flow into the shelter."

The challenge is compounded by the valley's staggering stray-cat population, estimated at between 200,000 and 400,000. Kitten season puts an enormous strain on shelter staff and volunteers due to the number of kittens entering shelters.

Among those stepping up is Dr. Ma, a UNLV professor of clinical sciences who discovered a colony of stray cats when he purchased a downtown property. What started as feeding has grown into a full-care operation that includes trapping, spaying, neutering, and supporting adoptions.

"And then I thought to myself, well, what am I going to do, right?" said Dr. Ma. "So, obviously, as a healthcare provider and a caregiver, I thought to myself, I've got to take care of these guys."

"And then you realize that when you start feeding them, they start to multiply," he said.

Spaying and neutering remain the most effective tools to combat overpopulation. Shelter staff notes that a single unspayed female cat can produce more than 100 kittens over her lifetime.

Care for the youngest arrivals is especially intensive. Bristlecone, a days-old kitten whose mother is believed to have been taken, is being bottle-fed every few hours and kept in an incubator set to roughly 90 degrees at The Animal Foundation, a snapshot of the daily demands kitten season places on shelter workers.

To meet that demand, The Animal Foundation is actively recruiting foster families to take in kittens until they are ready for adoption.

"We can work with your schedule and, you know, what you're willing to do," Pizzi said. "But fostering is just so rewarding, and it's truly saving lives."

Those interested in fostering can contact The Animal Foundation at animalfoundation.com.